The "Middle East and Terrorism" Blog was created in order to supply information about the implication of Arab countries and Iran in terrorism all over the world. Most of the articles in the blog are the result of objective scientific research or articles written by senior journalists.

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Monday, June 19, 2017

Gaza in the Dark Is Not So Terrible - Prof. Efraim Inbar

by Prof. Efraim Inbar

Maybe a
bit of darkness will help the Gazans see the light.

Gaza skyline, image by proIsraeli via Flickr Creative Commons

BESA Center Perspectives Paper No. 501, June 18, 2017

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: Hamas wants Israel to supply it with electricity “or else”, but there
is no reason why Israel should submit to Hamas extortion. It is not
Israel’s obligation to satisfy the needs of a population that continues,
through its ongoing support of Hamas, to pursue Israel’s destruction.

The Hamas leadership in Gaza has threatened Israel with “an
explosion” if it does not supply electricity to Gaza at the expense of
Israeli taxpayers.

Blackmail is, of course, part of the Hamas repertoire. One of the
main reasons why Hamas launched thousands of rockets and sent terrorists
into Israel via tunnel in the summer of 2014 was to solve its dire
economic problem. Hamas needs electricity to build terror tunnels and
produce weapons.

Voices in Israel and abroad are advocating “moderation” – meaning
capitulation – and insisting that Israel has no interest in an
escalation. While Israel naturally prefers quiet along its borders,
giving in to Hamas demands and granting it a victory will only lead to
further demands. Supplying electricity to Gaza in exchange for a promise
that Gazans refrain from shooting at Israeli civilians is no different
from paying protection money to the Mafia.

There is no strategic or moral reason why Israel should supply free electricity to Gaza.

While Israel does not desire escalation, it has no reason to fear it.
Israel is the stronger side. Moreover, the essence of war is a
competition to inflict pain on the opponent in order to change patterns
of behavior. Pain has a positive value in that it affects the learning
curves of the warring sides. Israel has made use of force to teach the
Palestinians that aggression against Israel does not pay, and that
continued support for Hamas can be costly.

Another round of violence – one that exacts a high cost from Hamas
and the Gazans – may lead them to more peaceful behavior. It is true
that it is difficult to influence the learning processes of large
collectives, but it is by no means unprecedented. For example, it took
much suffering in WWI and WWII to transform Germany into a less
militaristic and belligerent society. While not politically correct,
such treatment might help turn the Palestinians into peaceful neighbors
in the long run.

In any case, it makes no strategic sense to ease the situation of
Hamas at just the moment that the Arab Sunni states have put Qatar (the
backer of the Muslim Brotherhood, of which Hamas is a part) under
diplomatic and economic siege. Moreover, the US seems to support the
steps taken by Saudi Arabia and its allies. The Palestinian Authority
(PA) itself, which initiated the electricity crisis by refusing to
continue to pay for energy supply to Gaza as part of the internal
Palestinian struggle for dominance, is unimpressed by warnings of an
impending human disaster.

Hamas exploits the suffering of Gazans to extract humanitarian aid
and sympathy for their cause. But the Gazans cannot be exempted from
responsibility for the consequences of Hamas’s actions. Unfortunately,
Hamas remains popular in Gaza, and all polls show that Gazans support
continued violence against Israel.

The Gazans are, in short, not good neighbors, and they do not deserve
Israel’s sympathy. What moral justification exists that compels
Israelis to assist people who support an organization intent on
destroying them?

Moreover, plans to ease the economic situation in Gaza – either by
supplying electricity and water or by building a port – send the wrong
signals. They tell the Palestinians that their leadership can make grave
mistakes, but outsiders with good intentions will bail them out. They
also signal to Hamas that it might as well continue shooting at Israel.
Why not? If Israel takes military steps in response, merciful donors
will repair the damage yet again.

The billions of euros transferred to the Palestinians over the past
two decades have been squandered through ineptitude and misappropriated
through corruption. Like many Third World countries, Gaza lacks the
legal and institutional infrastructure needed for the effective
dispersal of economic aid. Very little aid has filtered down to the
people. Hamas leadership, however, continues to be enriched by it. Those
with arms always get the first and best cut of foreign aid sent to the
poor. Humanitarian aid to Gaza is also siphoned off to build better
military capabilities with which to fight Israel.

The authoritarian rule of Hamas dooms the Gazans to continuous
poverty, ignorance, and protracted war with Israel. Palestinians,
particularly in Gaza, are not educated to seek peace, but to make
sacrifices and martyr themselves in a holy war against the Jewish state.

Israel has no choice but to reject Hamas demands, even if that
refusal brings about another round of violence that will add to the
suffering in Gaza. Even the friends of the Palestinian national movement
should realize that it is time for some tough love for Gaza. Maybe a
bit of darkness will help the Gazans see the light.

BESA Center Perspectives Papers are published through the generosity of the Greg Rosshandler FamilyProf. Efraim Inbar, professor emeritus of political studies at Bar-Ilan
University and founding director of the Begin-Sadat Center for
Strategic Studies (1991-2016), is a Shillman-Ginsburg fellow at the
Middle East Forum.

Source: https://besacenter.org/perspectives-papers/gaza-dark-not-terrible/ Follow Middle East and Terrorism on TwitterCopyright - Original materials copyright (c) by the authors.